Domestic Goddess Travels: Sunda Kelapa

This blog sees us visiting the Sunda Kelapa distract here in Jakarta.

It is an older area of Jakarta and we wanted to explore the dock area where the Makassar Schooners are located.

When we arrived we could see a number of schooners lining the docks just as they have for many years, most of the schooners are at least 60 years old.

The dock stretchers for hundreds of meters, we saw many of the schooners being loaded either by hand or with a small crain. We ended up taking one of the tour guilds up on his offer to show us around which set us back 100,000rp ($10). It was money well spent as we where told so much information about the workings of the dock and a little history. We where also able to board one of the schooners and get a good look at the boat. To board the boat we had to walk up on two planks of wood which was easier said then done, all I saw was the black water below so it took me a little time to get aboard I didn't want to fall in at all.

Looking at the water level, it was amazing how much below the water line the dock sat, the walls to the dock had been built up over the years to stop the tide flowing onto the dock. I didn't realise how far Jakarta was below sea level until seeing the dock.

We looked around the boat and was able to go below the deck and see where the crew members sleep also see where the captain operates the boat from. Many years ago the schooners where only under sail power but these days the sails have been replaced by engines. The shipments that go out to all the islands of Indonesia consists of many things from, rice, cardboard, motorcycles, bamboo and amazing amounts of cement. As you walked along the dock you could even smell the cement in the air. You name it, it get shipped from here. If it wasn't for the modern trucks, cars and motor cycles you would think that we had stepped back in time as these schooners were a sight to see. Many of the boats seemed be getting worked on by the crew while there wasn't much else to do. We where told that the boats themselves are not really insured it's the cargo that is the important item.

Small boats across from the dock

The sea wall

Men standing on lifeboats doing some boat maintenance

Boat load of illegal coal

Water line on the boats to mark when boat is fully loaded

Ben with the tour guild

Ben waking on the wooden planks onto one of the boats

Rice loaded in the hull of the boat

Government stamp for the rice bags

Captain Bernadette

In the captains area on the boat

Looking at the front of the boat

Captains area

One of the crew member in his sleeping area

Bernadette climbing the stairs from the bottom of the boat

Bernadette climbing on the planks of wood to get off the boat

Men loading a boat

Men loading the boat by hand

Tour guild talking about the dried palm oil

Our driver playing around

After finishing at the dock we headed to the Fatahillah Square where we found an interesting amount of buildings and a large amount of bikes for hire. We decided to try the Cafe Batavia and was surprised at how once again we felt like we had stepped back in history and to the year of the the 1940's due to the decor of the cafe.

Bikes in the square

Post office in the square

One of the building lining the square

Cafe Batavia

The second floor bar area of Cafe Batavia

Pictures lined the stair case in the cafe

The second floor dining room

The men's toilet had floor to ceiling mirrors

We then headed to the Maritime Museum which we found the building itself very interesting.

The building was built in 1645 and was a VOC warehouse. Through the museum we found many different models of the different types of boats that belonged to the Indonesian history. The museum was little boring and run down but the building its self was interesting to see and walk through.

Walk way between two of the buildings of the museum

Ben standing next to one of the wood pillars in the building

One boat model

Another boat model

Another boat model

Captain Ben

We stopped to look at the Watch Tower which is only about 500 meters away from the museum. The Watch Tower was built in 1839 to sight and direct traffic to the port. We climbed the tower to see the view over the port. It was amazing to see how much land has been reclaimed since 1839. The tower is quite far from the start of the port these days.